[42 different Little Blue Books by Leo Markun]

Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Company, various dates. Paperback. Forty-two different staplebound booklets, all 3.5x5 inches. Generally in very good condition, with some toning. Dated examples range from the 1920s to the 1930s; many are later printings with the dates removed. Despite the series having the title "Little Blue Books," they come in a variety of colors. Markun was one of the more peculiar contributors to the Little Blue Book series. The son of Jewish immigrants, he graduated from Harvard only to become a recluse, quietly submitting manuscript after manuscript to Haldeman-Julius until his suicide in 1932 at the age of 31. The booklets present are the following (titles followed by number in the Little Blue Book series):
A Short History of the World War (110)
The Psychology of Joy and Sorrow (377)
What you should know about Phrenology (411)
A United States commercial geography (431)
The great love of Lord Nelson and Lady Hamilton (434)
A dictionary of scientific terms (452)
How to develop your sense of humor (475)
A Short History of the American Revolution (597)
What you should know about Palmistry (704)
The mental differences between men and women (731)
An international dictionary of authors (754)
How to conquer stupidity (759)
Hints on writing book-reviews (764)
Good habits and how to form them (773)
What you should know about Fortune Telling (845)
Bad Habits and How to Break Them (850)
The psychology of Leadership (858)
The psychology of Character Building (882)
How to think logically (1003)
The psychology of laughter (1063)
The Conquest of Fear (1069)
Insanity and Other Mental Disorders (1094)
Memory: What It Is and How to Use It (1097)
Prostitution in the modern world (1135)
Facts You Should Know about Will Power (1221)
An Outline of United States History (1241)
How to get the most out of recreation (1245)
The Psychology of Love and Hate (1247)
A Dictionary of Geographical Names (1259)
Your Intelligence and How to Test It (1439)
What you should know about Graphology (1442)
Character Reading From the Face (1448)
The love affairs of John Wesley (1449)
A Dictionary of contemporary authors (1454)
A Dictionary of the Social Sciences (1456)
A Book of American Statistics (1460)
A history of gambling (1592)
Principles of International Law (1602)
The Magic of Numbers (1710)
The economics of taxation (1711)
Great Dates in History (1712)
How to think creatively (1726).